S.L. 452.87 Art. 8Annual leave.

(1) Every worker shall be entitled to paid annual leave of at least the equivalent in hours of four weeks and thirty-two hours calculated on the basis of a forty-hour working week, and an eight-

hour working day and out of this paid annual leave entitlement, a minimum period equivalent to four weeks may not be replaced by an allowance in lieu, except where the employment relationship is terminated, and any agreement to the contrary shall be null and void:

Provided that with effect from the 1st January 2021, in the case of whole-time employees, where a national or public holiday falls on a Saturday, Sunday or weekly day of rest to which an employee is entitled, such employee shall be entitled to an additional day of vacation leave during that same calendar year in respect of each such national or public holiday, as specified in article 6 of the National Holidays and Other Public Holidays Act. Provided further that in cases where the average weekly working time, calculated on the basis of a reference period of seventeen weeks, is below or exceeds forty hours per week, the annual leave entitlement in hours shall be adjusted accordingly: Provided further that the average weekly working time shall be calculated on the normal hours of work of the employee and shall not include overtime hours.

(2) With the exception of the hours of annual leave entitlement which may be availed of as urgent leave, leave shall be availed of as whole working days, with the equivalent number of hours being deducted from the annual leave entitlement calculated in hours, unless otherwise provided for in a collective agreement or established by mutual consent:

Provided that in cases when the residual hours of annual leave entitlement is less than the equivalent of a whole working day, such residual leave entitlement shall be granted on one occasion as part of a whole working day.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subregulation (1), a proportion of the leave entitlement not exceeding 50% of the annual leave entitlement, may, by mutual agreement between employer and employee, be carried over once to the next calendar year. Such vacation leave carried forward from the previous year will be utilised first, and may not be carried forward again.

(4) When an employee is in employment for less than twelve months in any calendar year, the worker shall be entitled to such annual leave as is in proportion to the period in employment.

(5) Every whole-time employee shall be entitled to the national holidays and to all public holidays with full pay.

(6) Subject to any relevant provision in a recognised collective agreement or established by mutual consent:

(a) in the case of workers on a regular daily schedule, when a national holiday or public holiday falls on a worker’s day of rest, the worker shall be credited with extra hours of annual leave equivalent to the number of hours of a normal working day;

(b) notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, in the case of workers on irregular schedules or where the hours of work vary from day to day, the hours of work equivalent to a working day which are to be credited to the annual leave entitlement of such workers when a public holiday or a national holiday falls on a day of rest shall be calculated on the basis of the number of normal hours scheduled to be worked in a seventeen week period, divided by the number of working days in that same period.

Night Work and Shift Work